SSFIV on the Nintendo 3DS has almost all of the features found in the console versions of the game. There's a trial mode to let you bang out combos, you can set a player icon and title, you can fight through the arcade mode and get interrupted with online fight requests, and so on. Even the achievement system from the other versions make it over here via a custom list of medals that you can unlock. It has all 35 of the characters, and they even get a couple of the alternate costumes that required an extra purchase on the 360 and PS3. You can play through the arcade mode and get the same type of intro images and conclusions that you saw on consoles, and, well, you get the idea. The only missing features come on the online side, where you can match up against other players and fight them, but the tournament options and large lobbies found on consoles aren't here.
New features are also included, like 500 character figurines that you can unlock via a spinning wheel. Each of these figures has a level, number of hit points, and other statistics associated with them. It's your job to assemble a strong team of five figures, which make up your StreetPass team. Then, at least in theory, you just walk around your hometown with your 3DS in sleep mode, and whenever you encounter another player that's doing the same thing, you'll exchange team data and a completely passive battle will occur. When you launch the game, any StreetPass battles you've engaged in are posted to a log, and you'll earn additional figure points--which are used to purchase more figures--for winning those battles. You can also earn figure points by simply playing the game in any other mode, or you can exchange a Play Coin for one spin of the figure-unlocking wheel. It's a basic system, but it integrates quite nicely with the handheld's various passive features.
In the pro control setting, you can only place multi-button combinations onto those touch screen buttons. By default it'll let you pull off a focus attack or push all three punch or kick buttons simultaneously. But the rest of the game plays as it did on consoles. You'll have to execute all of the moves on your own, something that isn't too tough to do with the system's D-pad, though my big left hand certainly cramped up a bit after putting some serious time in with the game.
The big control problem in the 3DS version of this game is that the lite mode breaks the rules of the game, allowing for balance-changing situations that would be impossible under normal circumstances. Specifically, charge moves--Guile's flash kick, for example--can be executed without them charging first. Without the need to hold down for a moment before rising up into a flash kick, Guile can follow his sonic boom projectile in and, if the other player decides to jump over the projectile, Guile can flash kick them right out of the air, no questions asked. This gets frustrating when you take the game online.
When you attempt to find an online opponent, the default option lets players with either control scheme intermingle, and you don't know ahead of time if the other player is using auto-block or which attacks they have mapped to the touch screen. But it's easy to tell once a fight has begun, as players flash whenever an auto-block is performed. I've played quite a bit of Street Fighter over the years, but the way moves can come up without being charged is forcing me to unlearn the rules of the game, something that'll probably make me worse at playing the game on consoles in the long run. And even though dismantling these players isn't all that hard once you know what to expect, it's just no fun to fight Guile after Guile, knowing that they just intend to execute standing flash kicks whenever possible. Now, you can filter your searches to ensure that you're only matched up with pro mode players, but in my experience, almost no one is playing that way. I found exactly one taker when searching specifically for pro mode players... and he quit after I beat him once. Frustrating.
Getting into online matches quickly and easily is probably Super Street Fighter IV's strongest component. It even seems to be faster and more reliable than its console counterparts, with none of the "unable to join session" errors that plague Capcom's other fighting games, but once a rush of domestic players get their hands on the system, it's anyone's guess about how that will change. It's just a bit disappointing that most of those online matches are slightly marred by the way the lite mode allows players to perform tasks that would be impossible under normal circumstances. But even with that caveat, the numerous features and options make Super Street Fighter IV one of the best games available at the launch of the 3DS.
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